One of the largest corporate donors to Britain's Conservative Party, and a key sponsor of the Commonwealth business event in Colombo this week, has been shown to have close links to the family of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

According to Corporate Watch, Hastings Trading e Serviços Lda, a company owned by the Lyca Group, bought a 95% share in a dormant firm registered with Rajapaksa's nephew, Himal Lalindra Hettiarachchi as reported by the Sunday Leader in 2009. The company went on to receive a key license to operate cutting-edge wireless broadband frequencies in Sri Lanka, forcing the state-owned telecoms company to merge.

Lycamobile has donated over £530,000 to the Conservative Party since 2007, becoming one of its largest corporate donors.

The firm is also one of the Gold Sponsors of the Commonwealth Business Forum, currently underway on the sidelines of the Commonwealth summit in Sri Lanka. Deals worth more than $2bn are expected to be sealed during the forum, according to the Colombo government.

Over 100 British companies are attending the Forum, among them several other Tory donors, Corporate Watch says.

Earlier today, British Foreign Minister Hugo Swire tweeted: "Pleased to say there are more British companies represented here at #CBF2013 than any other Commonwealth country."

Prime Minister David Cameron, who has rejected pressure to boycott the meeting over Sri Lanka's deteriorating human rights situation, is not attending the Commonwealth Business Forum, however his trade envoy Lord Marland is representing British interests.

Labour MP Kerry McCarthy told Corporate Watch:

“David Cameron has failed to make human rights a priority in the run up to CHOGM, both in terms of his own attendance and in terms of his apparent focus on drumming up business opportunities with little regard for the human rights context in which the meeting is taking place”.

McCarthy had asked a question in the Commons on Monday which forced the government to disclose that “The Foreign Secretary has had no recent discussions with Lord Marland on human rights in Sri Lanka.”

Senior representatives from RBS, HSBC and Standard Chartered, mining giant Anglo-American, construction industry stalwarts Roughton and telecom firm BT are all in attendance and poised to “profit from the aftermath of a brutal 30-year war”, said Corporate Watch.

For a list of British companies at the Commonwealth Business Forum in Sri Lanka see here.

Lycamobile is Tories' top corporate donor - but pays no corporation tax - The Guardian (04 June 2012)